A federal appeals court blocked the implementation of the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan, which would have lowered monthly payments for millions of borrowers.

In a ruling Thursday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion for an administrative stay filed by a group of Republican-led states seeking to invalidate the administration’s entire student loan forgiveness program. The court’s order prohibits the administration from implementing the parts of the SAVE plan that were not already blocked by lower court rulings.

The ruling comes the same day that the Biden administration announced another round of student loan forgiveness, this time totaling $1.2 billion in forgiveness for roughly 35,000 borrowers who are eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Two separate legal challenges to Biden’s SAVE plan have worked their way through the courts. In June, federal judges in Kansas and Missouri issued separate rulings that blocked much of the administration’s plan to provide a faster path towards loan cancellation and reduce monthly income-based repayment from 10% to 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income. Those injunctions did not affect debt that had already been forgiven.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that allowed the department to proceed with the lowered monthly payments. Thursday’s order from the 8th circuit blocks all aspects of the SAVE plan.

The Education Department said it was reviewing the ruling.

Alabama executes convicted killer

A man convicted of fatally shooting a delivery driver during a robbery attempt in 1998 was executed Thursday evening in Alabama.

Keith Edmund Gavin was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m. CDT following a chemical injection at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southwest Alabama, authorities said.

The 64-year-old inmate was convicted of capital murder in the shooting death of William Clayton Jr. in Cherokee County. Clayton, a 68-year-old courier service driver, had driven to an ATM in downtown Centre on the evening of March 6, 1998. He had just finished work and was getting money to take his wife to dinner, according to a court summary of trial testimony.

The execution began shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down his request for a stay of execution, which Gavin filed himself in a handwritten document.

It was the 10th execution in the U.S. this year and the third in Alabama, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

France seeks way out of political morass

France’s divided National Assembly on Thursday kept a centrist member of President Emmanuel Macron’s party as speaker after a chaotic early election produced a hung legislature.

Speaker Yaël Braun-Pivet, 53, has been at the head of the National Assembly since 2022 and she retained her post Thursday after three rounds of votes in the lower house of parliament.

The parliamentary election earlier this month resulted in a split between three major political blocs: the New Popular Front leftist coalition, Macron’s centrist allies and the far-right National Rally party. None of them won an outright majority.

Von der Leyen reelected EU head

Lawmakers at the European Parliament on Thursday reelected Ursula von der Leyen to a second 5-year term as president of the European Union’s executive commission, giving her a comfortable majority and heading off a possible leadership vacuum.

Von der Leyen raised both fists in victory as the Parliament President Roberta Metsola read out the result at the legislature. She called her reelection a victory for her backers, lawmakers she called “pro-European, pro-Ukraine (and) pro-rule of law.”

The reelection ensures leadership continuity for the 27-nation bloc as it wrestles with crises ranging from the war in Ukraine to climate change, migration and housing shortages. Von der Leyen said she and her supporters are working “for a strong Europe,” citing themes of prosperity, security and defense.

Charges detail alleged shooting by Ill. deputy

An Illinois sheriff’s deputy charged with murder in the death of a Springfield, Ill., Black woman shot her in the face during a tense moment over a pot of water in her home and then discouraged his partner from trying to save her, authorities said Thursday.

The details were in a court document filed in support of keeping fired Sangamon County Deputy Sean Grayson in custody without bond. County Circuit Judge Ryan M. Cadagin agreed, denying Grayson pretrial release at a hearing Thursday in Springfield.

Cadagin described the actions the former deputy is accused of as “such a departure from the expectations of a civil society.”

Sonya Massey, 36, was killed at her home in Illinois’ capital city, about 200 miles south of Chicago, after deputies responded to her 911 call about a possible prowler early on July 6.

Prosecutors said Grayson “aggressively yelled” at Massey to put a pot down and then she put her hands in the air, declared “I’m sorry” and ducked for cover before being shot in the face. Grayson also discouraged the other deputy from getting his medical kit, prosecutors said.

The 30-year-old Grayson, who is white, was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He pleaded not guilty in his first court appearance Thursday.

Defense attorney Dan Fultz argued for Grayson’s release, contending the state’s arguments fell short. Fultz said Grayson is not a threat to the community because was compliant and turned himself in within a half-hour after his arrest warrant was issued. His detention would pose a burden on the county, he said, because of Stage 3 colon cancer diagnosed last fall that requires special medical treatment.

— From news services